[G8O]∎ [PDF] Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness Alexandra Fuller 9781594202995 Books

Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness Alexandra Fuller 9781594202995 Books

Download As PDF : Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness Alexandra Fuller 9781594202995 Books

Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness Alexandra Fuller 9781594202995 Books

What a wonderful find. Alexandra Fuller captures the seduction of the African sun and burning landscape. The vast spaces that set the mind sailing seduced her parents and made them stay against great adversity. They lived in Kenya when British Colonists spent their days in royal comfort, but those days ended with a revolution and war in the 60’s. Ms. Fuller masterfully weaves the very personal history of her dramatic childhood and the life of her stiff upper lip parents against the backdrop of a tumultuous time. Her parents chose to remain in Africa after their lands were seized and to set up housekeeping in remote Zambia where they found peace under the” Tree of Forgetfullness”. I have ordered the third book in the trilogy of Ms. Fuller’s stunning memoir.
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Tags : Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness [Alexandra Fuller] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <b>Selected by The New York Times Book Review</i> as a Notable Book of the Year  </b> In Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness</i> Alexandra Fuller returns to Africa and to her unforgettable family,Alexandra Fuller,Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness,Penguin Press,1594202990,British - Zimbabwe,British;Zimbabwe;Biography.,Fuller, Alexandra - Childhood and youth,Fuller, Alexandra - Family,Fuller, Nicola,Mothers and daughters - Zimbabwe,Mothers and daughters;Zimbabwe;Biography.,Women - Zimbabwe,Women;Zimbabwe;Biography.,Zimbabwe,Zimbabwe - History - 1965-1980,Zimbabwe - Social life and customs,African American,BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY Personal Memoirs,BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY Women,Bibliography,Biography,Biography & Autobiography,Biography Autobiography,BiographyAutobiography,Biography: general,British,FAMILY,FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS Parenting Motherhood,GENERAL,General Adult,Mothers and daughters,Non-Fiction,Personal Memoirs,Southern Africa,United States,Women,Women - Zimbabwe,Women;Zimbabwe;Biography.,ZIMBABWE - HISTORY,Zimbabwe,Zimbabwe - History - 1965-1980,Zimbabwe - Social life and customs,africa; biography; childhood; family; history; kenya; memoir; mental illness; mothers; rhodesia; zambia; zimbabwe; england; parents; autobiography; autobiographical; mom; mother; dad; father; sister; siblings; coming of age; sibling; war; tragedy; children; land; self help books; parenting books; parenting; self help books for women; biographies; biographies and memoirs; autobiographies; memoirs; positive discipline; self help; biographies of famous people; child development; positive parenting; self improvement books; discipline,africa;biography;childhood;family;history;kenya;memoir;mental illness;mothers;rhodesia;zambia;zimbabwe;england;parents;autobiography;autobiographical;mom;mother;dad;father;sister;siblings;coming of age;sibling;war;tragedy;children;land;biographies;relationships;biographies and memoirs;feminism;autobiographies;parenting;inspirational books for women;drama;biographies of famous people;relationship books;mindfulness;discipline;child development;women in history;books for women;parenting books,BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY Personal Memoirs,BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY Women,FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS Parenting Motherhood,Personal Memoirs,Biography Autobiography,Biography,British,Mothers and daughters,Women,Family,Zimbabwe - History,Biography & Autobiography,BiographyAutobiography,Biography: general

Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness Alexandra Fuller 9781594202995 Books Reviews

Ms. Fuller has written an intriguing story of her parents' lives in [mostly] eastern Africa, their struggles during and after British control and what the white farming experience was [and I guess is] like in that vast continent. She does an excellent job describing the beauty and horrors of living daily life there; particularly touching is the Fullers' deep love for Africa which is quite palpable throughout the book - they just can't imagine living anywhere else and always come back. I'd really like to know these people! No obstacle deters them from scratching out a living on various farms they either own or manage. And it's clear how much Ms. Fuller loves and admires them for their perseverance.

Some of the descriptions of the surroundings and landscapes are so lovely - particularly as evening falls - that I felt as though I were sitting right there with Ms. Fuller and her mother as they reminisce together. Two minor negatives are 1) the book starts off a little jumbled and would have been better had it proceeded chronologically as it does as it gets going, and 2) more pictures and maps of the regions the Fullers lived and traveled in would have been helpful.
I enjoyed Fuller's other book, "Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight," so much that I immediately bought this one. While "Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness" is a good, solid book, there were enough similarities between the two that I often felt I was reading the first book over again. "Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight" paints a vivid, personal picture of Fuller's childhood in Africa. The hardships she endures, brought on by conditions, bad choices, and even worse luck, are an individual tapestry of place and time from the author's own perspective. I felt like I was right there with her, seeing life through the lens of her changing perspective as she matured. In "Cocktail Hour," Fuller focuses more on her amazing and sometimes maddening mother and her life before, during, and after Alexandra came into the world. It's true that her mother is a larger than life character, and she already figures prominently in the first book. If I had read "Cocktail Hour" first, I would probably give it four stars, but because so much of it already felt familiar, I was a bit disappointed. If you haven't read "Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight," I highly recommend it! If you want to read "Cocktail Hour" as well, I'd suggest letting a few months or years pass first so it feels more like a fresh book.
I love the way she writes - the feel of her words going across my brain, for lack of a clearer expression. It’s steady, there are no extra words, the pace is brisk, the details are crisp. Her ear for spoken language is brilliant. Her descriptions of smells are without compare. This is the third book I’ve read by Ms. Fuller and I’ve loved them all. The moment I submit this review I’m going to begin my fourth one. I’m happy she’s such a prolific writer!
While there is, as one critic mentioned, considerable overlap with the author's first book (Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight), I found this one even more fascinating and compelling, with many elements I consider when evaluating a memoir

* It contains lyrical and vivid writing that pulls the reader into the sights, sounds, smells, and emotions of the narrative's places, especially Africa.
* It offers an introduction to a world and culture and place that is so utterly foreign to me, I felt as though I had gone on a grand safari myself.
* Its character development was both harsh and compassioniate, especially the rendering of the author's mother "Nicola Fuller of Central Africa."
* The story provides keen insight into the often unmentioned civilian victims of war.
* The narrative explores life's emotional complexities of, and brutalities against, the human heart, yet it moves quickly enough not to become maudlin or mired dark places.
* It inspired me to think about how I would react in some of the unspeakably awful circumstances that Nicola Fuller, the author (Nicola's daughter), and others in the family had to face. We judge others at our own peril.
* The author's ability to step back far enough to see her family with the eye of an artist and the heart of a loved one impressed me.
* The book succeeds, I believe, in conveying why anyone might be willing, against incredible odds, to keep coming back to what must be a very seductive part of the world.

Here are some quotes I noted

Speaking of her mother's childhood in Kenya "It was, in many ways, a charmed and feral childhood."

Describing the brutal landscape "It was toward the end of the long dry season; the wind had been red all day with dust blown in from Uganda and settling on everything like powdered blood, the sun blistered out of a high, clear sky."

...and her mother's garden "an encouraged tangle of bougainvillea and passion fruit vines, beds of lilies and strelitzia, rows of lilac bushes and caladiums looming over borders of impatiens."

"War is Africa's perpetual ripe fruit. There is so much injustice to resolve, such desire for revenge in the blood of the people, such crippling corruption of power, such unseemly scramble for the natural resources. The wind of power shifts and there go the fruit again, tumbling toward the ground, each war more inventively terrible than the last."

As the author tells the story of her brother's illness and death "My impuse is impossible I want to reach back through the years and protect my young parents from what happens next."

"Surely until all of us own and honor one another's dead, until we have admitted to our murders and forgiven one another and ourselves for what we have done, there can be no truce, no dignity and no peace."

"People often ask why my parents haven't left Africa. Simply put, they have been possessed by this land."
What a wonderful find. Alexandra Fuller captures the seduction of the African sun and burning landscape. The vast spaces that set the mind sailing seduced her parents and made them stay against great adversity. They lived in Kenya when British Colonists spent their days in royal comfort, but those days ended with a revolution and war in the 60’s. Ms. Fuller masterfully weaves the very personal history of her dramatic childhood and the life of her stiff upper lip parents against the backdrop of a tumultuous time. Her parents chose to remain in Africa after their lands were seized and to set up housekeeping in remote Zambia where they found peace under the” Tree of Forgetfullness”. I have ordered the third book in the trilogy of Ms. Fuller’s stunning memoir.
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